Bitcoin Poker Sites 2019

A fully fledged blockchain poker room may not exist yet, but Bitcoin makes playing my favorite game online a much smoother experience, especially when it comes to collecting rewards.

Near-instant withdrawals are always nice, don’t you think?

But the best Bitcoin poker sites are not only about smooth payment methods. They’re about excellent security, a good interface, even better deposit bonuses, total lack of bots, and quick and knowledgeable support, all on top of the lightning-fast withdrawals.

I know them all, and so will you in an instant.

I explored 10 quality Bitcoin poker sites, examined them and picked them as the very best from the growing cohort of quality crypto betting sites, so that you can test your skills and strategic thinking with complete peace of mind.

Here is the current rank list of sites that guarantee good and fair service:

Welcome package up to €300 + 50 free spins

Welcome bonus up to 5 BTC + 300 free spins

Our Bitcoin Poker Review Process

The sites listed above are ranked in this specific order because of our professional reviews. Our evaluation process is structured around several key steps that shape the gambling experience.

We sign up – When signing up, we pay attention to the requirements and the length of the process. The longer it takes to verify a new account, the lower the site is ranked.

We deposit – Depositing is essential. Regardless of whether we talk about virtual Bitcoin poker or real action around the table, boosting your bankroll should be seamless and quick.

We play – Right now, real Bitcoin poker tables are not that different from standard online poker. That’s why we expect quality: a glitch-free interface that allows you to keep track of hands, switch tables, chat freely, and customize the experience to suit your taste.

Mobile poker – One of the cool things about Bitcoin is that you can easily pay through a mobile device. But if you want to enjoy playing anywhere, a Bitcoin poker, Android, or iOS app would come in handy as well. We check for those and, if apps are missing, how optimized the poker site is for mobile devices.

We withdraw – Our reviewers might not have a shot at the World Series just yet, but they know how to handle themselves around the poker table. Once sufficient testing is done, they send their winnings toward their Bitcoin wallets. Normally, the process is hassle-free, but the occasional operator could try to make things more convoluted than necessary.

Bitcoin transactions rarely take more than one hour to complete, but this is sufficient time to engage the casino support over chat or email and see how responsive they are.

Then, you learn where the fun resides.

Bonuses and Reliability

Free bets and no-deposit and matched-deposit bonuses are expected, across the board. We examine their generosity and general terms, as some offers sound great but leave a sour taste in the mouth after reading the terms and conditions. All the same, don’t rely solely on our reviews, and always check the terms regulating a bonus scheme, as they change frequently.

On top of the bonuses, we take into account the technical performance of the site and the promises made. We want fast and responsive software but also an organization that ensures a good customer experience. We investigate thoroughly the history of every establishment to evaluate its reputation further.

We dig around to see if the Bitcoin poker room has left negative impressions in other users.

These two, bonuses and reliability, are tightly intertwined—as casinos that promise large matched bonuses, and even some no-deposit perks, have a tendency to tie players to incredibly harsh terms and conditions.

The reliability comes in the form of actual payouts when payout is due, but it’s also tied to the stability of the platform. Getting sudden, unexpected disconnects when you hold a winning hand in a virtual Bitcoin poker game can strip you from your winnings, regardless of whether the casino has provably fair games or not.

So, yeah, it’s important.

REAL BITCOIN POKER

FortuneJack

The behemoth of altcoin gambling, FortuneJack has created a very decent poker room. Even though the variety of games extends only to Bitcoin Texas Hold’em, Omaha, and Stud, the interface is pleasant and functions smoothly. Besides poker, FortuneJack offers various Bitcoin dice, slots, and other casino games. In fact, FortuneJack is also one of the 10 best Bitcoin dice sites. It's that good!

Additionally, poker players can qualify for cashback, rakeback, and the generous casino first-deposit bonus. Best of all, withdrawals and deposits take minutes to process.

Everything is done through a web browser, but the site is fully optimized for mobile devices.

In the unlikely scenario you experience issues using FortuneJack’s excellent services, their support team is quick to answer with a friendly attitude. Even when they don’t have the necessary knowledge, they are eager to find the answer and resolve the issue.

Reputable and respectable, FortuneJack is one of the places that promises the best Bitcoin poker action.

SwC Poker

Formerly known as Seals with Clubs, SwC Poker is one of the Bitcoin sites dedicated exclusively to poker. It’s been around for a while and has established itself as one of the most reliable names in the industry.

Lately, SwC has been putting concentrated effort to weed out the malicious programs. The result is their new 3.0 platform. The change is visible throughout the whole site. Their poker games, Bitcoin transactions, and account management function smoothly and up-to-date.

SwC Poker has one major shortcoming: the relatively small player base. However, it is growing slowly, as the cryptocurrencies become more mainstream.

SwC Poker is available for Windows, iOS, and Android. You’ll have to download their client to play the game, and there even mobile versions, so you can take your games with you.

Besides, the site has an impressive variety of poker games and the lowest rake on a poker site that I know of. The latter is particularly attractive and quite unique to SwC Poker. Whereas most poker sites collect around 4%, SwC gathers a 2%–2.5% rake on cash tables.

This is a Bitcoin poker site with a good history and a bright future.

Betcoin.ag

Reading about the gambling practices at Betcoin.ag can be a bit scary because they have been accused time and again of using corrupted software and having very uncooperative customer service.

While preparing our Betcoin review, I couldn’t help it and was reserved and constantly alert.

In all fairness, so far, I am yet to discover anything particularly troublesome, but a handful of threads about Bitcoin poker Reddit brought to my attention still make me feel uneasy about this site.

My personal experience is that the withdrawals usually take 24 hours or so, which is very slow, while the customer support could be a bit more courteous. The player base is not the largest, but Betcoin is part of the Winning Poker Network, and players can enjoy huge and frequent daily tournaments.

Nitrogen Sports

Nitrogen is one of the biggest and best Bitcoin sportsbooks. Its customer support and user interface are among the best in the industry. And while Nitrogen Poker enjoys the same catchy design and classy support, the action around the tables still needs to prove itself as viable and fair to everyone.

Many people try to take advantage of the Bitcoin anonymity and create multiple accounts on Nitrogen. Collusion was a real issue on the site for a while, but it seems that the casino security staff have taken provisions to put an end to it.

I am monitoring the poker rooms closely and my hopes have been growing higher, as Nitrogen Sports is a genuinely nice place to gamble and puts serious effort to resolve the unsavory situations.

Even with their weird policy of having no signup bonus (other than a Bitcoin poker freeroll tournament ticket), the site and the atmosphere are simply too good to discard so easily.

The Nitrogen Poker can be enjoyed directly through the browser, regardless of device. The withdrawals take some 15 minutes to process and the player base is OK, for a BTC poker site that isn’t part of a larger poker network.

A lot of effort has been made to improve the security and fairness of the Nitrogen Bitcoin poker site and the results are starting to show.

Bovada Poker

One of the biggest online poker sites made its glorious return to the main stage recently.

Bovada Poker is back, with a new look and a huge player base; at peak hours the traffic can reach 5,000 concurrent players.

Rich tournament schedule, plenty of tables for casual play and numerous deposit methods—Bitcoin is only one of them—make Bovada a poker haven, especially for US players, who generally cannot enjoy many online casinos because of country restrictions.

Bitcoin withdrawals are handled within a few hours, even though the casino reserves the right to process them for up to 48 hours. While this timeframe is unreasonably high, this seems to be more of a safety net and precaution on behalf of the casino. The longest it took for one of my three withdrawals to be processed was five hours.

Bovada is a secure online casino with very good customer support, a dedicated poker client for desktop users, and a fully optimized mobile website.

The welcome bonus will match your first deposit up to $500. The terms of the bonus could be more generous, but I have seen much worse as well.

The return of Bovada was a welcome one, indeed, offering gamblers some of the best Bitcoin poker action around.

VIRTUAL BITCOIN POKER

CloudBet

CloudBet is one of the best Bitcoin casinos with a good selection of virtual poker games. The casino has a few live casino poker tables for Caribbean, Casino Hold ’Em, and Casino Stud, but it truly impresses with its video poker collection.

There are nearly 50 video poker variations to keep you entertained and help you earn the coveted loyalty points, which count toward cashing out the very generous matched deposit bonus of up to five bitcoins.

Friendly customer support team and independent audits guarantee smooth and fair gameplay for those of you who are ready to test your skill and will against the mighty RNGeesus.

Getting started at CloudBet—signup and initial deposit—takes less than two minutes. Withdrawals also are processed instantly.

Overall, it is a very welcoming casino, with excellent software, responsive design, a great variety of games, and an impressive video poker section.

bitStarz

bitStarz is one of the biggest Bitcoin casinos, and as such, many things can be said about it, but the positives seem to barely outweigh the negatives.

The casino has a very impressive game collection, with several casino poker variations and very generous deposit bonuses. Your first four deposits will be matched at 50% or 100%, which is one of the best offers I’ve seen. The wagering conditions attached to the deposit bonuses are the acceptable 40 times the bonus.

Now, bitStarz is a BTC casino alright, but it accepts other payment methods too. As most establishments that process traditional and altcoin payments, they reserve the right to request identity verification.

I had no withdrawal problems at all, but the sums I transferred to my Bitcoin wallet—received within minutes—were very small. In my research I found multiple claims from players who bitStarz has treated unfairly by delaying or outright denying payments of larger sums; some of the claims looked frighteningly legit.

This and the relatively poor selection of poker games makes me a bit reluctant to recommend bitStarz wholeheartedly, even though the site is polished and the games run smoothly.

mBit Casino

Another casino operating solely with cryptocurrencies, mBit enjoys a rather good reputation and provides a decent service. The site loads quickly, and so do all the games I tested.

Somewhat disappointingly, the only poker games are of the video poker variety, but at least the selection is representable with 24 different types. I fully expected to see real casino poker action, but it is lacking from mBit at the moment.

One of the greatest advantages of mBit is the huge list of software providers that contribute to the diverse experience and different gameplay. Plus, this is one of the websites that accepts ETH payments. So if you are looking for one of the reliable Ethereum gambling platforms, mBit Casino is perfect for you.

Sadly, the matched deposit bonuses work only for slot games and nothing else; there is no free Bitcoin poker action to speak of.

All in all, mBit is a very good casino, but it could offer more to the poker fans.

Bitcasino.io

There are well over 20 video poker games and several live casino games with skillful and pleasant dealers. Nothing other than a browser is necessary to enjoy all these games. There is no mobile casino app either, but the site is fully optimized to fit any screen.

Bitcasino has very decent welcome bonuses, but you can benefit from them only if you play slots, which makes it less than ideal for poker players.

Otherwise, the support is very good, with responsive live chat and ticketing systems around the clock.

The casino has built up a solid reputation over the years and a respectable network of partners.

Its software providers guarantee smooth gameplay, decent payout rates, and diversity for those interested in other gambling activities besides poker.

Conclusion

At the moment, the Bitcoin poker scene is still in its infancy. As the blockchain technology continues to develop with new, innovative applications becoming reality and disrupting the status quo, we might see brand new ways of organizing online poker events.

A real-time, decentralized poker platform is still just an idea, but the time for its realization is drawing closer and closer.

Right now, the main issues blocking a quality, best poker experience are the relatively small player base and the usage of bots, even though the latter plagues regular online poker rooms as well. Luckily, the player base issue is dissipating as crypto assets become more widely adopted across the globe.

On the other hand, the advantages for gambling with Bitcoin are already significant. Have you heard of another casino that matches deposit bonuses of over $30,000? At the moment of writing this, 5 BTC are worth well over that amount.

Add to the mix the possibility to bypass territorial restrictions and the quick withdrawals, and you see why playing poker with Bitcoin makes so much sense.

FAQ

Q: Are Bitcoin poker websites completely anonymous?

A: Some are. As a rule of thumb, however, all casinos that accept payments in fiat currencies require ID verification, even for altcoin deposits and withdrawals.

Q: What is colluding?

A: Colluding is the illegal practice of two or more players who coordinate their game strategy so that they gain an unfair advantage over the rest of the poker table.

Q: What are bots?

A: Bots are illegal pieces of software pretending to be real players. Typically, several bots are used by a single individual in a manner identical to colluding.

Q: Do Bitcoin poker sites have deposit and withdrawal fees?

A: The majority of sites do not, but some charge small amounts. You must always check the payment methods of the casino you wish to play at for details.

Q: How can I obtain Bitcoin?

A: There are numerous ways to do so. The most common one includes registration on a Bitcoin exchange site and buying crypto assets from there.